A PAINTED CERAMIC FUNERARY MODEL OF A SOLDIER
China, Tang dynasty

The sculpture depicting a standing armiger, his arms raised at the elbow, his hands originally closed to hold now lost weapons, dressed in armo, on the head a helmet with a protuberance at the center of the skull, the face with a grim expression, the details painted in polychromy.

56 cm high

Provenance: Fabrizio Savi collection, acquired from Galerie Moderne, Bruxelles, between 1995 and 2000.
Guardian figures like this make their appearance as a set of aristocratic tombs from the end of the sixth century, to remain a constant in the following centuries. The greater presence in tombs of members of the imperial family of mingqi in painted terracotta compared to the specimens with three-colours sancai glaze, suggests that the former were preferred.

* The thermoluminescence carried out on the 20th november 1999 from the Brussels Art Laboratory. Nuclear Section. Institut Superieur Industriel de Bruxelles confirms the proposed dating.